Stephens Inc. AR Acquires 4,004 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 153,129 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,004 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $7,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,985,000 after buying an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after buying an additional 793,327 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,613,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 182,943.7% in the 2nd quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 569,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,930,000 after buying an additional 568,955 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $53.87 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $54.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $51.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.38. The stock has a market cap of $91.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.02. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.17.

Altria Group Company Profile

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.